CPUC focuses on health task force report

The Council of the Princeton University Community discussed the second of three planned reports on the state of health and wellness on campus Monday.

University Vice President Robert Durkee '69 summarized the findings of the task force and afterwards fielded audience questions.

"Mainly, University Health Services and Dillon Gym are straining at the seams, and it will only increase when the University adds more students in a couple years," Durkee said.

He explained that the issues of concern for the task force were nutrition, the condition of Dillon facilities, McCosh Health Center and the Student Health Plan.

Univeristy Chief Medical Officer Daniel Silverman reported difficulties treating serious mental conditions.

"Our old structure was designed to assess developmental problems, like mild depression," Silverman said. "We'd like increased psychotherapy and emergency mental services. This year the University has had to hospitalize 18 students for various mental conditions."

Durkee said "the University's health plan does not measure up to peer institutions'." While compiling the report, task force members made site visits to Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

The task force proposed increasing the number of mental health staffers and revising the training of University medical professionals. It also recommended increasing the price of health care for undergraduates in order to expand benefits.

The report suggested that steps be taken to improve the nutritional quality of foods in and outside the dining halls. "The Frist Beverage Lab could be converted to a healthy eating lab," Durkee said. "The Bev Lab is seriously underutilized by the student body."

The proposal also included a preliminary evaluation of the childcare program currently available to graduate students, faculty and staff. The task force has hired Bright Horizons — a childcare consulting company — to more thoroughly investigate the community's needs. The company is expected to offer recommendations this summer.

Durkee said the task force advocated changing the structure of employee sick days. Under the present system, most staff members have eight sick days each year that expire if they are not used. The University is considering allowing some days to roll over, although there would be a limit of 14 to 16 days in any given year.

Pat Gibney, a library cataloguer who attended the CPUC meeting, was dissatisfied with the recommendations regarding sick days. "Princeton's sick leave is by far the least liberal of all our peer institutions," Gibney said. "No one gives staff members at any level — with the exception of comparatively new hires at Columbia — fewer than 12 days per year."